Earth Plus
by Tobi Tortue
Summary: PIE Short. They called it Earth Plus because it uses a calendar invloving AD, but someone's secreatary thought it was Add, and just wrote down a plus sign. It stuck. Kira and Athrun pretend to be natives of the world YOU are sitting in right now.
1. Prologue

**PIE Short: Earth Plus**

**Prologue**

Cosmic Era 74.

A mistake during a test to create near light-speed capable engines tears a hole in the space-time continuum and sends test pilot Parr Inlum to another universe. After he makes a rapid u-turn, scientists research the tear and stabilize it into a gateway. Subsequent tests create more tears to more universes and result in more gateways.

Universe 1 leaves the Cosmic Era for the Parr Inlum Era, commonly known as PIE….

PIE 1.(CE 76.)

PLANT and Earth forces create the Frontier Inspection Team to explore the many universes they now have access to. Although FIT is a peaceful organization, because mobile suit piloting skills are usually required, army officers are allowed to hold dual memberships within their armies and FIT.

Intrigued by the prospect of exploration, our heroes of the Bloody Valentine Wars enlist once again, this time as Frontier Inspection Team Explorers….

* * *

**Earth Plus 2007 AD**

…blend in…report weekly…blah…blah…

Athrun closed the notebook and looked at his partner. "Sounds pretty easy," he commented.

Kira continued reading the briefing material. "Shouldn't you read it more carefully?" he asked, trying not to sound as reproachful as he felt.

"Nah, I read the bulleted phrases and there's never any6 reason to read the fine print." Athrun put his folder into his standard-issue FITE-gray duffel bag.

"Is _that_ what happened to your family fortune?" Kira asked idly.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I still have my family fortune." Athrun's brow furrowed in confusion.

Kira looked up from his folder and remained utterly and eerily still as he stared Athrun in the eyes. There was a long pause.

"Are you sure?"

Athrun sat down as Kira returned to reading. He folded his arms, looked at his FITE bag, and sighed.

"I've signed everything already, and _you're_ reading it so I think I'll just go get changed," Athrun said in defeat. He took the ugly duffel bag and left the room.

"Oh…wow…" Kira said long after the door had closed behind his friend. "We might have to be careful…"

* * *

Athrun Zala and Kira Yamato moved into an average house on Earth Plus, known from the other earths by its way of dating using an "A.D.". (They also used "C.E.", but it stood for "Common Era", and having two "C.E." planets was just difficult, although Universe 1 had just moved into PIE anyway.) But someone misheard the "A.D.", and thought that it was "Add", and therefore it became "Plus". (Unfortunately, using the calendar to name earths soon led to Universe 1's earth being called "Earth Pie", which is why the phrase "eat dirt" revived during the early years of PIE. PLANT and the lunar colonies felt above this and insisted they were simply a part of Universe 1, and not the scoop of vanilla ice cream next to the pie or the large metal fork hovering nearby at the ready.)

Kira entered the living room where Athrun was loafing on the couch, surfing through the hundreds of channels. His purple eyes narrowed with displeasure as he noticed his partner's shoes on the arm rest. Kira had lived along time in Orb, so just wearing his shoes indoors at all felt strange. But, being a pacifist, he didn't make a scene.

"Ok, Athrun, since I know you didn't read the briefing material because you don't take this seriously, I'll brief you now." He paused, waiting for Athrun to turn off the tv. His friend muted it instead. "And please get your shoes off the couch," Kira reminded gently. Ever since Athrun's defecting phase, the former ZAFT pilot had become increasingly lazy and his respect for authority had dwindled down to nearly nothing. Kira lamented this change, but still loved his best friend.

Athrun, to his credit, did as told, and even decided to give Kira his full attention by turning off the tv.

"So…?" the teal eyed ace asked.

"Okay, so we're to look into different aspects of this world's culture. I've already chosen our roles.

"You, Athrun, will go undercover as a normal high school student—"

"Wait," Athrun interrupted, "why high school? Don't you think I'm a little old for that?"

"You look young…" Kira reasoned vaguely. His expression changed to utter faith and determination. "I'm sure you can pull it off." The brunette's voice sounded almost _too_ encouraging.

"Anyway," he said, getting right back to business, "you will act and behave like a high school student and because familiar with average cultural values. Under no circumstances are you supposed to let your cover be blown.

"As for your personal data, you are 18, were born in Florida (which is this country), but your family moved to Japan when you were six years old. You've returned alone tolive with your cousin, who is me, so you can go to an American college. You speak fluent English and Japanese, but NOT French, German, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, or Swedish.

"Oh, and your name is Athrun Tara."

"What?! _Why?_"

"I don't know."

There was a pause as Athrun mulled the information over.

"Okay," he said, breaking the silence. "I can handle this, easy. So what will you be doing, anyway, if I'm delving into culture?"

"I'm doing some of that too, but I'll pretend to be a tourist." Kira smiled. Athrun's eyes narrowed. "That means I may not necessarily be at home all of the time, because at some point I'll be going to Europe and Asia." Athrun's face was beginning to look a lot like the face of death. Kira continued on, oblivious to his friend's growing jealousy. "Oh, and I'll also do some research on the military and politics, so it might get kind of exciting. But don't worry, I won't do anything dangerous." He finally caught on to Athrun's expression, but didn't recognize it for what it was.

"Huh? What is it, Athrun?" he asked innocently.

"Nothing." The reply was darker than a storm cloud at night.

"Okay," Kira the sunbeam chirped. Athrun turned the tv back on, wishing he had read the fine print.

* * *

Please let me know what you think!

(Yay for apostrophes! Not yay for Japanese keyboards!)


	2. Mission 01: Frankenstein

**Mission 01: Frankenstein**

The next morning, Athrun woke up early, ate some cold cereal, grabbed an umbrella, and walked a mile in the rain. He arrived at school, wet to only the ankles, and managed to keep his colorful swearwords from eight different languages to himself.

He made his way to the main office and then was given a schedule, several very heavy books, and something that was hardly recognizable as a poor photocopy of a map. He sighed as his wet shoes squeaked obnoxiously all the way down the hall, down some stairs, and down another hallway.

He reluctantly entered classroom 25: Calculus AB. He cursed FIT because it was the first half of calculus, a course he had taken in junior high school. And it had been ridiculously easy then. Was there any way that he wasn't going to be bored out of his mind?

His aura of calm that he had worn during his ten months at ZAFT Academy returned, masking his utter dislike of the situation. And then he was suddenly surrounded by teenagers.

Several students politely asked for his name, where he was from, his favorite color, etc. He answered according to the briefing material, and noted that everyone seemed to think that he was fascinating because he had lived in a foreign country. The teacher appeared out of the adjoining office, and the class found seats and got out their materials.

Athrun allowed the girl next to him to help him, seeing as she was eager to do so, and he was supposed to pretend to be somewhat stupid. She was blond, blue-eyed, and rather busty. As she leaned over towards Athrun's desk to flip pages for him, or to show him which problem they were working on (as if he couldn't follow along at all), it seemed to Athrun that she _wanted_ him to look down her v-cut t-shirt.

When class ended, he thanked her half-heartedly, and assured everyone that he could find his next class by himself. It was probably his perfect composure and crisp politeness that convinced them.

He entered the Chemistry room and tried to stay awake. Some girl kept batting her lashes at him, and it would catch his attention, so he managed to keep his eyes open.

Next period was French, a language in which Athrun was fluent. He refrained from raising his hand for _all_ of the questions, but mainly because he wasn't used to having to raise his hand to speak. If he barely paid attention, that also made it easier.

He bought lunch at the cafeteria, and was slightly disappointed to realize that all cafeteria food, everywhere, is the same. It's always tasting a little of soap, a lot of some grease, and sometimes there's a hint of cardboard. Athrun poked his food with his fork, swallowed uneasily, and decided to pretend it was something better, like perhaps real food.

A giggle(1) of girls approached him, and effectively kept any males from trying to make friends. Instead, Athrun was sure that they were probably beginning to hate him for stealing their girlfriends, which he actually wasn't trying to do. He couldn't help that his cool, refined looks attracted girls like bees to a flower. But sometimes, it was just uncomfortable being the flower.

The period after lunch was some kind of art class. It was more exciting, but mainly because he could throw paint on canvas in wild patterns and pretend it reflected his conflicting emotions about leaving Japan and coming to America.

After art he had a history class, which was actually interesting, and which he paid attention to. Truthfully, he was a little lost of the topics, except for some of the larger stuff, which he recognized, like the French Revolution, or the general geography of Europe during the period. It all seemed rather…outdated…but he supposed that history is meant to be that way.

Athrun "Tara" then made his way to his final class of the day, English. The class had just finished reading a book called Frankenstein. Athrun had never heard of it. In two days they were supposed to write an in-class essay on the story. The teacher, a smart and slightly sassy woman, informed Athrun that he should "try to make it through as much of the book as possible, noting the following themes" which she wrote on the board.

Needless to say, by the time Athrun returned home, he was cranky, tired, sick of rain and girls, and he was not in the mood to see Kira arrive home from touring a local tulip garden.

"But I have _pictures_!" Kira whined, holding up his digital camera. "I can hook it up to the tv and show you!" He pouted and slumped into a chair opposite Athrun and the couch.

"Shut up, Kira, I'm reading this damn book."

And that was the end of the conversation.

* * *

By the same time tomorrow, Athrun was more cranky, more tired, thoroughly disgusted with rain and the girls (with whom he had somehow become more popular), and Kira returning with loads of candy after visiting a candy factory did not help his mood at all. 

"Are you sure you don't want one?" Kira asked in the same tone a child uses when he really _really_ wants to be cheer someone up. Athrun looked at the small piece of pink candy in Kira's palm.

"No thank you."

But by dinner time, Athrun had a sudden realization. He had finally finished Frankenstein, and was just about to sit down to eat the dinner Kira had thoughtfully made.

"Whoa, Kira, I just had this sudden…epiphany…of sorts," Athrun said slowly, as he sat down into his chair.

Kira blinked as he took off his hot pot holder mittens and set them on the counter. He sat down across from Athrun.

"Er, what was it?"

"Okay, let me briefly tell you the story of Frankenstein, first." Kira nodded, and Athrun continued, his voice picking up speed. "See, there's this guy named Dr. Frankenstein, and he's got everything. Really brilliant, has a girl, loving family, everything. Then he decides to _make_ another guy." At this point Kira blinked, and reddened. "No, not like that, pervert. He takes parts of dead people, stitches it all together, and then electrocutes it into action. Then he gets freaked out and runs away." Athrun paused in his narrative to take a bite of salad. "Mm, this is pretty good, Kira."

"Thank you."

"Anyway," Athrun started again, swallowing, "apparently this monster—"

"Wait, I thought he was a man!" Kira interjected loudly through a mouthful of lettuce.

"Okay, it _is_ a guy, but he's like, made of dead people. And about eight feet tall or something. And like that. Anyway, said monster-slash-guy goes to live out in the hills and then finds these books and reads them and spies on this family or something, and then he's found, and because he's like, eight feet tall, they freak out and shoo him away. And then, he saves a girl from drowning so her boyfriend shoots him in the leg, and then he finds the guy who made him and kills the guy's little brother or nephew or cousin or something."

"That's horrible!" Kira cried, covering his mouth in horror, and to hide his chewed-up lettuce.

"Yeah, so Dr. Frankenstein decides to not help said monster by making a female monster, and so the monster kills Frankenstein's fiancée, so Frankenstein gets pissed off, and chases the monster around the globe. The end."

Kira looked puzzled, wondering why Athrun had told him the story.

Athrun leaned in with a smile. "So now here's my sudden realization: do you know who Frankenstein's monster is similar to?"

Kira thought for a moment, but had to shake his head. He had met some strange people, but never anyone over 7 feet tall. And he thought he'd notice right away if someone were pieced together out of dead people. It would have been in the news, at the very least.

"Raww le Creuset."

Kira gasped and stood up suddenly, his chair falling over behind him with a loud, wooden clatter. "He's _alive?! AGAIN?!"_ His eyes darted around wildly, as if he expected the late ZAFT commander to burst into the room at any moment.

"Sit down," Athrun commanded. "No, of course he's not alive again. He's dead. And in really tiny pieces, or in no pieces at all. Not to mention also in space somewhere. What I'm talking about are other similarities. Like motivation, and personality."

Kira slowly righted his chair and eased himself into it. He nodded slowly, and then looked rather sheepish. He nibbled on his lettuce, which really made him look more sheepish. He noticed the weird look Athrun was giving him, so he just decided to eat the home-made cheeseburger instead, motioning with a free hand for Athrun to finish the story.

"Okay, so in class today, and after reading the stupid book, I learned three very important things about Frankenstein's monster. At least, they were important to my teacher... And I realized that Raww le Creuset has the exact same stuff going on. I can prove that Raww le Creuset is the same as Frankenstein's creation.

"Number one: the monster was created unnaturally. And we also know that Raww le Creuset was too. The guy was, after all, a clone. He wasn't a coordinator, but he wasn't a normal natural either. The monster was made from dead people and electricity. Le Creuset was kind of like a replica of a real guy, who was shortly thereafter, dead. So they were both kind of like dead people walking around. And this was for him, as it was for the monster, the source of all his bitterness and psychotic...ness.

"Number two: the monster _hated_ his personal appearance. This monster could barely stand to look at himself. He was supposed to be good-looking, but his eyes were all yellowy and watery and small, and his teeth were perfectly white and maybe sharp, and he had really dark skin. Everyone got freaked out looking at him. We also know that Raww le Creuset also hated his appearance. The guy wore a creepy mask his entire life! It made him a pretty suspicious-looking commander, and I'm sure it must have hindered his way up the ranks, so he must have really been pissed off about his face, just like the monster. Though he probably wasn't worried about people running away when they saw his face. I mean, Rey wasn't a bad-looking guy….

"Anyway, number three is that the monster wanted the destruction of his creators and mankind. We know for a fact that le Creuset wanted the destruction of mankind. He gave the naturals N-Jammer Cancellor technology while he commanded battleships for ZAFT. And he actually succeeded in destroying his creators, which were your biological parents the Hibikis and Al da Flaga. That would be in the mansion's fire, which they recently proved was his doing.

"So, to sum it all up, Raww le Creuset is Frankenstein's monster. Any questions?" Athrun looked very smug, and he ate his cheeseburger with relish. (Both kinds of relish, in case you were wondering.)

"You didn't just give me an outline of tomorrow's essay, did you?" Kira asked, his voice full of pitying concern.

"Shut up, Kira." Athrun bit his cheeseburger viciously, and then smiled. "You know, you were created unnaturally too. And I bet you don't like that Dr. Hibiki did that, do you?"

"I don't want the destruction of mankind, Athrun," Kira pointed out. "And I think I look pretty good, too."

"You narcissistic bastard, you," Athrun joked.

"Speaking of which," Kira said coversationally, "some girl called while you were in the shower." Kira's eyes suddenly darkened and became dangerous. "You're not cheating on my sister are you?"

"Are you insane?" Athrun asked. "If I did, she'd chop me into little pieces and throw me in the back of someone's garage!" He shook his head, trying to clear it of images of Cagalli with an axe, or worse, a chainsaw.

Kira stared at his friend, checking for any hint of a lie. "And you know what?" he asked, his voice struggling to stay deadly as he went for the punch line.

"She would eletrocute you before you died, not after."

* * *

(1) Whales are counted in pods, horses in herds, sheep in flocks, crows in murders, tigers in streaks, geese in gaggles, etc. Teenage girls are counted in giggles, which can contain anywhere from 3 to 12 girls. Any more, and it just gets kind of scary.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know your opinion and see you for next chapter! (Don't be afraid to be honest, please!) If you have any ideas, you can let me know, too, and I might be able to work it into a chapter or something. Thanks!


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